From: "Jamie Moreira" To: Theresa Kappus , Dan Goodman , ballad-l@indiana.edu Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:17:39 AST Subject: Re: A ballad for librarians Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.22 Sender: owner-ballad-l@indiana.edu Precedence: bulk Status: RO X-Status: > Yes, I'm still looking for A Nineteen-year-old....the song, that is! > It was suggested it may be a version of a cautionary ballad (thanks > William!), so...does anyone have a good folklore collection? > > > Theresa Kappus > Minot Public Library > 516 2nd Ave. SW > The following version of Handier Ninety was collected in 1987 from Fred Redden, a Nova Scotia singer whose repertoire consists mainly of Irish broadside and music hall songs. The second stanza is missing a line, but that's how Redden sang it. I've also included a crude transcription of the tune, which will play back on a QuickBASIC interpreter (see below). I haven't had much luck finding other versions (none in print), but cf. "The Burglar and the Old Maid" (Laws H23) and "The Warranty Deed" (Laws H24). Redden also sang a song called "By the Bright Silvery Light of the Moon" (text appended) which is in the same vein. Hope this helps Cheers Jamie Moreira HANDIER NINETY THAN NINETEEN YEARS OLD Oh, as I was a-walking way down by the strand I espied a fair damsel so handsome and grand She had buckles and brooches of silver and gold Says I, "Now what a dandy, and only nineteen years old" Well, I courted her truly in two weeks we were wed In two weeks we were married and the wedding bells tolled I'd married me a dandy only nineteen years old Well, the wedding being over we retired to rest You can bet I was astounded when my wife did undress Such an armload of paddings as my wife did unfold Says I, "Now what a dandy, and only nineteen years old" Well, she took off her cork leg right off to her knee She unbuttoned her fingers until I counted three Then she plucked out her glass eye on the floor it did roll Says I, "Now what a dandy, and only nineteen years old" Well, she took off her eyebrows, I thought I would faint She took from her face a good bucket of paint Then she took off her wig and her bald head soon told She was handier ninety than to nineteen years old Now, come all you young fellows when courting you go Examine your true love from her head to her toe For if you don't do it, you're bound to be sold To a patched up old geyser about ninety years old [The following "program," run through a QuickBASIC interpreter, will play a rough approximation of the tune. The shape of the melody is accurate but, as sung by Redden, the tune has more of a dotted rhythm. To play, cut and paste the following lines into QBASIC (usually packaged with MS-DOS 5.0 and later) and press to run. It will not work with BASIC or BASICA interpreters. Also, don't remove the apostrophe's in front of the first three lines -- they instruct the interpreter to ignore the line. Bear in mind that tempo may be affected by the clock speed of the machine you are using: I wrote this out on a very old and slow machine so playing back on a 386 or better may require adjustment. To do so, reduce the first value -- "T100" (i.e. Tempo 100 bpm) -- of the opening PLAY line. The tune should be sung moderate to moderately slow.] -------------------CUT AFTER THIS LINE---------------------- 'Tune to "Nineteen Years Old" as sung by 'Fred Redden, Elmsvale, Nova Scotia, July 1987 'To play, import into QBASIC and press PLAY "T100O2L16CEL8GEGCEL16DEL8FDO1BO2L4C" PLAY "L8GO3CCCO2FEL16EFL8AAAO2L4G" PLAY "L8GO3CCCO2FEL16EFL8AAAL4A" PLAY "L16EFL8GEL16GGL8CEL16DEL8FDO1BO2L4C" -------------------CUT ABOVE THIS LINE---------------------- BY THE BRIGHT SILVERY LIGHT OF THE MOON It was one evening in Roscrae, in the merry month of May, When the roses and the heather were in bloom, A young lady passed me by and she gave me the glad eye By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, I got an awful fright; it was true-love at first sight, And I thought I couldn't marry her too soon. We got married right away in the abbey near Roscrae, By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, it started getting late and she asked me for to wait, And when I got up to the door of her bedroom. Well, there upon a chair was her teeth and golden hair, By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, there was more for me in store when she began to snore, Oh, she nearly blew the blankets cross the room, And there upon a peg was a great big wooden leg, By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, I grabbed her by the head and I dragged her out of bed, And like a broken doll she lay there in the gloom. It would break a million hearts to see all of her spare parts, By the bright silvery light of the moon. So young men take my advice, always look at the lady's twice, For they're always out to catch us poor gossoons. Pull her teeth and pull her hair, just to see if she's all there, By the bright silvery light of the moon. From lanih@bliss.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU Wed Aug 21 17:00:50 1996 Return-Path: lanih@bliss.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU Received: from nak.berkeley.edu (nak.Berkeley.EDU [128.32.206.21]) by mizar.usc.edu (8.7.2/8.7.2/usc) with ESMTP id RAA14719 for ; Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:00:49 -0700 (PDT) Received: from bliss.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU (bliss.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU [128.32.226.47]) by nak.berkeley.edu (8.7.3/8.6.10) with SMTP id RAA09082 for ; Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:00:48 -0700 (PDT) Received: by bliss.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU; (5.65/1.1.8.2/11Oct95-0830AM) id AA24051; Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:01:07 -0700 Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:01:07 -0700 Message-Id: <9608220001.AA24051@bliss.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU> From: Lani Herrmann To: cray@mizar.usc.edu In-Reply-To: (message from Ed Cray on Wed, 21 Aug 1996 09:47:51 -0700 (PDT)) Subject: Re: A Lost Ballad Found Status: RO X-Status: Try again: Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 11:24:15 -0500 From: Theresa Kappus To: STUMPERS-L@crf.cuis.edu Subj: ?Nineteen-year-old (song) Yes, I'm still looking for A Nineteen-year-old....the song, that is! It was suggested it may be a version of a cautionary ballad (thanks William!), so...does anyone have a good folklore collection? A patron is looking for a old song that was sung to him back in the early '30's. Our local expert on these things suggested it may be have been sung by one of the travelling "cowboy bands". The title may be "Nineteen-Year-Old" or "Just a Nineteen-Year-Old". First verse: As I was out strolling one day on the strand, I met a fair maiden all dressed up so grand, With ribbons and laces and jewels of fine gold, She sure was a Daisy for a nineteen-year-old. So he marries her in verse two, but in verse three: She took off her right leg just below the knee, She took off her fingers, I think she left three, And out on the carpet her glass eye did roll. She sure was a Daisy for a nineteen-year-old. She removes more body parts, of course and seems "more like ninety" by the end of the song. The patron has written down the words from memory, but he wants to check them to see if they're correct. He would also like the music if it's available. I think he will be interested in the words to "The Unfortunate Man" posted by William Gisler, but we're still looking for "his" song. Thanks for your help! Theresa Kappus Minot Public Library 516 2nd Ave. SW The late Gale Huntington of Martha's Vineyard used to sing a version of this very tale. I may be able to dig up tune and lyrics, but don't hold your breath. Once long ago in Washington, D.C. I heard a *blues* version of this, sung by ?Ed ??M.... I've been keeping my ears open (a net of the most informal kind!) for more versions of this ballad-of-the-missing-parts, but without further success so far. So I'd also be interested if you hear of any, with citations/references/quotations if possible! The only other song I know of with the referent "nineteen years old" is a ditty in one of Janet Tobitt's Girl Scout songbooks, entitled "My Lovyer Is a Sailor Lad," which harps on the fellow's age, but doesn't have any missing parts. She does name a source (collected from a person) but gives no other information -- perhaps she herself learned it from this person? And, of course, there is the song that Peter Bellamy used to sing about a sailor that survived to be ninety years old. If I remember correctly, he was missing a limb, but 'twasn't funny. Happy hunting! -- Aloha, Lani From: WOOD@jcvaxa.jcu.edu Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 13:29:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: nineteen year old This ballad is on an old theodore Bikel record from th early sixties. When i get home I will check since I have the album--I even think the name is a "girl Nineteen years Old" C Wood John Carroll University From: Lani Herrmann To: BALLAD-L@indiana.edu Subject: ?Nineteen years old, only. Tune Here goes: the tune Gale Huntington used to sing his version. The key is arbitrary. X: 1 T: The Virgin only Nineteen Years Old M: 3/4 S: Gale Huntington; from Sam Mingo's logbook K: G D|GBG|FAc|dcA|F/2D/2-D D|GBG|FAc|ddg|d2 B/2c/2|ddg|d/2e/2~fA|cBA|F/2D/2-D D|GBA/2G/2|FAA/2G/2|FA f/2e/2|DCA|G2|| Pocket explanation: The | are barlines. M is the time signature; the 4 gives the value of the 'standard' note, in this case a quarter-note. K is the key signature. The notes: C is middle C; D is the note above that, etc. C, is the octave below c is an octave above middle C c' is the octave above, i.e. two octaves above middle c + is a sharp sign; ~ a 'flat' sign. The hyphen - ties two notes of the same pitch together (adds their time values) Have fun. -- Aloha, Lani From: "Jamie Moreira" To: Theresa Kappus , Dan Goodman , ballad-l@indiana.edu Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:17:39 AST Subject: Re: A ballad for librarians > Yes, I'm still looking for A Nineteen-year-old....the song, that is! > It was suggested it may be a version of a cautionary ballad (thanks > William!), so...does anyone have a good folklore collection? > > > Theresa Kappus > Minot Public Library > 516 2nd Ave. SW > The following version of Handier Ninety was collected in 1987 from Fred Redden, a Nova Scotia singer whose repertoire consists mainly of Irish broadside and music hall songs. The second stanza is missing a line, but that's how Redden sang it. I've also included a crude transcription of the tune, which will play back on a QuickBASIC interpreter (see below). I haven't had much luck finding other versions (none in print), but cf. "The Burglar and the Old Maid" (Laws H23) and "The Warranty Deed" (Laws H24). Redden also sang a song called "By the Bright Silvery Light of the Moon" (text appended) which is in the same vein. Hope this helps Cheers Jamie Moreira HANDIER NINETY THAN NINETEEN YEARS OLD Oh, as I was a-walking way down by the strand I espied a fair damsel so handsome and grand She had buckles and brooches of silver and gold Says I, "Now what a dandy, and only nineteen years old" Well, I courted her truly in two weeks we were wed In two weeks we were married and the wedding bells tolled I'd married me a dandy only nineteen years old Well, the wedding being over we retired to rest You can bet I was astounded when my wife did undress Such an armload of paddings as my wife did unfold Says I, "Now what a dandy, and only nineteen years old" Well, she took off her cork leg right off to her knee She unbuttoned her fingers until I counted three Then she plucked out her glass eye on the floor it did roll Says I, "Now what a dandy, and only nineteen years old" Well, she took off her eyebrows, I thought I would faint She took from her face a good bucket of paint Then she took off her wig and her bald head soon told She was handier ninety than to nineteen years old Now, come all you young fellows when courting you go Examine your true love from her head to her toe For if you don't do it, you're bound to be sold To a patched up old geyser about ninety years old [The following "program," run through a QuickBASIC interpreter, will play a rough approximation of the tune. The shape of the melody is accurate but, as sung by Redden, the tune has more of a dotted rhythm. To play, cut and paste the following lines into QBASIC (usually packaged with MS-DOS 5.0 and later) and press to run. It will not work with BASIC or BASICA interpreters. Also, don't remove the apostrophe's in front of the first three lines -- they instruct the interpreter to ignore the line. Bear in mind that tempo may be affected by the clock speed of the machine you are using: I wrote this out on a very old and slow machine so playing back on a 386 or better may require adjustment. To do so, reduce the first value -- "T100" (i.e. Tempo 100 bpm) -- of the opening PLAY line. The tune should be sung moderate to moderately slow.] -------------------CUT AFTER THIS LINE---------------------- 'Tune to "Nineteen Years Old" as sung by 'Fred Redden, Elmsvale, Nova Scotia, July 1987 'To play, import into QBASIC and press PLAY "T100O2L16CEL8GEGCEL16DEL8FDO1BO2L4C" PLAY "L8GO3CCCO2FEL16EFL8AAAO2L4G" PLAY "L8GO3CCCO2FEL16EFL8AAAL4A" PLAY "L16EFL8GEL16GGL8CEL16DEL8FDO1BO2L4C" -------------------CUT ABOVE THIS LINE---------------------- BY THE BRIGHT SILVERY LIGHT OF THE MOON It was one evening in Roscrae, in the merry month of May, When the roses and the heather were in bloom, A young lady passed me by and she gave me the glad eye By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, I got an awful fright; it was true-love at first sight, And I thought I couldn't marry her too soon. We got married right away in the abbey near Roscrae, By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, it started getting late and she asked me for to wait, And when I got up to the door of her bedroom. Well, there upon a chair was her teeth and golden hair, By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, there was more for me in store when she began to snore, Oh, she nearly blew the blankets cross the room, And there upon a peg was a great big wooden leg, By the bright silvery light of the moon. Well, I grabbed her by the head and I dragged her out of bed, And like a broken doll she lay there in the gloom. It would break a million hearts to see all of her spare parts, By the bright silvery light of the moon. So young men take my advice, always look at the lady's twice, For they're always out to catch us poor gossoons. Pull her teeth and pull her hair, just to see if she's all there, By the bright silvery light of the moon.